Social Distancing in S’pore Has Also Reduced the Transmission of Other Diseases like Chickenpox

Many sectors have been affected by the COVID-19 rules: nightclubs are closing, malls are empty and all seats in cinemas have become Gold Class seats.

But bet you won’t have expected it to affect another group of people, too: the general practitioners (GP).

Social Distancing in S’pore Has Also Reduced the Transmission of Other Diseases like Chickenpox

Okay, maybe it hadn’t affected their rice bowls because those GPs are frontline staff and they have subsidies from the Government in the fight against COVID-19, but technically speaking, they’re having “fewer customers”.

Reason being?

Social distancing to stop the transmission of the coronavirus has also stopped the transmission of other common virus, like the flu that we’re so used to having regularly.

According to data from the Ministry of Health (MOH), there has been a drastic decrease in the number of people going to the clinics for other infectious diseases.

Here, take a look at this graph: the blue bars are numbers from 2019, and the red bars are number for this year.

A few examples would be confirmed cases of certain infectious diseases, since we won’t know if people are chao-kenging here or they’re now afraid to head to the doctor.

In the same period last year until 8 August, there were 131 cases of measles, but there were only 10 cases this year. Similar to COVID-19, measles is a highly infectious virus that spread through coughing and sneezing, and the virus can stay in the air for two hours.

However, it should be noted that people born in Singapore are usually vaccinated against measles, but you get the gist. Read more about the National Childhood Immunisation Schedule (NCIS) and National Adult Immunisation Schedule (NAIS) here.

Another example would be the dreaded chickenpox; based on data from polyclinics, there were 12 cases in Week 32 of 2019, and this year, there were only 4 in the same period.

The only disease that has an upward trend in cases?

Dengue fever, of course.

Hopefully, someone can convince mosquitoes to social distance as well.

Simply put, all diseases that were spread the same way as COVID-19 have seen a drop in transmission, so if there’s any consolation, it’s that our sacrifice to social distance does have an impact in the COVID-19 transmission even if you refuse to believe it.

Of course, this meant immunity for the common cold or chickenpox might not be achieved for more people, since herd immunity is usually the “endgame” for these viruses.

And lest you’re not aware, whenever you head to the doctor, you’re usually not tested for any suspected virus on your first visit; instead, the GP will treat your symptoms.

This has changed since 1 July 2020 when anyone above 13 with acute respiratory infection (ARI) will be tested for Covid-19 (but still not the common diseases like flu or chickenpox lah).

Watch this video to know more about the two types of COVID-19 tests (and also subscribe to our YouTube channel too, please?):